These GIFs Show How Sriracha Sauce Is Made

Published 9:00 am, Saturday, April 12, 2014

Sriracha has taken our taste buds hostage. Every single year, the company behind the beloved hot sauce, Huy Fong Foods, sees at least a 20% business increase.

The sauce of sun-ripened chilies, garlic, and sugar, packaged in a convenient squeeze bottle, adds spice to almost anything: soups, sauces, pastas, pizzas, hot dogs, hamburgers, and chowmein, just to name a few.

Even more, Sriracha embodies hipness (much to the dismay of diehard fans.) If you use it, you love it. And if you don't, you'll probably buy a red, rooster sweatshirt anyway and pretend.

That would take up a field about the size of lower Manhattan, south of Houston Street.

Vietnamese refugee David Tran founded Huy Fong Foods, located in Rosemead, Cali.

He named the company after the ship that brought him to America.

Once the chiles leave the truck, processing starts.

They look like red quicksand funneling into factory machines.

First, a windmill-like device washes the chiles, removing any dirt or chemicals.

Then, they enter a grinder.

After that, industrial, blue barrels store the chile-mash.

Later, the mixture gets a dose of garlic and sugar. Below, the sauce cooks while churning.

Then, packaging begins. The old factory (not shown) could produce about 70,000 bottles daily. Huy Fong Foods' new facility, however, is 2.5 times the size and yields about 18,000 daily — on one line.

Factory machines also take care of the the final touch, those signature green caps.

As the bottles leave the conveyer belt, workers package them, twelve to each box.

Aside from the 17- and 28-ounce bottles, the company plans to sell 9-ounce and gallon-sized containers too, according to Tran.

Heavy machinery transports large orders. Huy Fong Foods' new factory more than doubles the old one in size.

Surprisingly, the company doesn't advertise for any product. Fans, however, often pick up the slack. This dancing chicken comes from a YouTube video called "Sriracha Rap."

Still, Huy Fong Foods has no trouble selling the special sauce. "The past 30 years, the economics sometimes up and down. For me, I feel nothing. Every day, every month, the volume increase," Tran said.

Most importantly, Tran wants to keep the price low for his "chile friends."